Your Employee's Experience Determines Your Customer's Experience. (Tips on How to Emotionally Connect with Your Employees)

The employee experience and customer experience are intrinsically linked so you’ll need to work on both to gain the maximum benefit. 

 A common mistake companies make when creating a Customer Centric Culture is focusing solely on the customer experience and taking their employees for granted. People do business with people. And people create experiences. Understand how to elevate your employees’ performance and give them the tools, coaching and rewards (not always financial) that they need in order to be able to deliver exceptional customer experiences.

Remember, you can’t create exceptional customer experiences without creating exceptional employee experiences first!

Creating exceptional employee experiences will lead to employee engagement. You will know when you have engagement when everyone in your organization (yes, including you) is doing the right thing, at the right time, the right way, for the right reason.

 As a leader you must coach your employees to higher levels of engagement as well as manage your own engagement.   It’s leaders that set the tone for high morale and motivation.

 Engaged employees are dedicated to their roles, the company’s mission and goals.  They are passionate and proud. They are committed to using their talent and personal efforts to making a difference in their employer’s quest for business success.

 Creating a customer experience or employee experience is all about; ‘how you made them feel.’  Engagement is an emotional reaction to the work environment.  Understanding the core emotional drivers that engage your employees are essential to achieving a high performance culture. 

 In order to be able to shift satisfied employees into engaged employees you’ll need to make the emotional connection with the employee.  Let them know they’re valued and appreciated.

 Following are 10 tips on how to emotionally connect with your employees: 

1. Make On-boarding a Priority. Ensure that new hires or new transfers participate in a true on-boarding experience. Introduce them to the new position, the team, the expectations, the culture.  Make them feel welcome and ensure the rest of the team shares the spirit.
2. Inspire a Voice. Host open dialogue meetings where employees are invited to speak up, to share their opinions and ideas.  When employees feel their input is valued and appreciated they’re more likely to contribute more to the culture.
3. Ensure Your Employees Build Relationships. There is no doubt when we know and like our colleagues we work better together.  Take the time to host social events, play fun games that has your employees getting to know each other better and enhance a team spirit.
4. Know & Use Your Employees Name. The larger the company the harder it is to know the names of all your employees.  Make the effort to learn and use their names, and take it a step further to know something personal about them; their family, interests, favourite travel place, hobbies etc. 
5. Know Your Employee’s Goals. Aside of the company goals, take the time to understand where your employees would like to be in one, five or 10 years.  Be the leader who helps them see their strengths that they may not have even noticed.  Help them build their ideal career.
6. Communicate to Connect. Sometimes the physical presence of a leader can be intimidating to some employees. Be a good communicator and neutralizes this by keeping them in the loop, sharing feedback, nurturing, empowering and hosting one-on-one meetings.
7. Clarify Goals & Expectations. Everyone performs better when they know what is expected of them.  Sharing how their performance fits into the bigger picture shares purpose.  Be available to answer questions and always making them feel the importance of their role.
8. Recognize Performance. Praise and recognition are one of the greatest ways to motivate your employees.  Don’t only focus on the highest targets achieved but remember the effort put in at all levels.
9. Be a mentor. One sure sign of effective leadership is the desire to instil leadership traits in your employees.  Lead by example. Share the why. Be committed to building the next generation of leaders, develop and refine their own leadership skills while mentoring others to do the same.
10. Celebrate Often. In addition to celebrating work accomplishments remember to recognize and celebrate small milestones in the work completed to date.  Celebrate birthdays, work anniversaries and professional achievements. Everyone feels the value of being a part of a team that emotional connects with each other!

 It’s the experience you create for your employees that will have them wanting to create experiences for your customers.  When they feel engaged and valued they'll share the feeling with those they serve.

Stay connected with your employees as often as you can.  The result; engagement within your organization, enhanced team morale and delivery of memorable customers experiences.